The invention relates to power management, and more particularly, to residential power management.
When there is a residential power outage, back up power may be provided by a standby generator. In some cases, the standby generator is started automatically after the power outage. A standby generator that can be started automatically usually requires an automatic transfer switch. The combination of a standby generator and an automatic transfer switch is generally expensive. In some other cases, the standby generator will normally be turned on either manually or automatically to provide a limited amount of power to the residence due to an amperage limit of the standby generator. Therefore, only limited power is provided to the residence with some standby generators. In other words, a standby generator with a low amperage rating can limit the types of and number of appliances connected to the standby generator. Exemplary appliances that draw large amounts of current include air conditioners, hot water heaters, and on-demand appliances such as microwave ovens and toasters.
Standby back up generators and automatic transfer switches are also known. However, standby back up generators with low power ratings can still be overloaded when more power is demanded than can be supplied by the generators. Furthermore, standby back up generators with high power ratings are much more costly.